Police say missing man found alive and well

Janesville Police Chief David Moore talked about the investigation into claims of killings by Clayton Courtney, a Janesville man suspected in the murder of 21-year-old Britney N. Cross, 21, of Indianford. Janesville Gazette photo

JANESVILLE (AP) — A missing Janesville man turned up alive in northern Wisconsin on Monday, easing fears that he would be the third person to mysteriously turn up dead in the city this month.

Investigators have been scrambling since 28-year-old Clayton Courtney allegedly told his roommate on May 4 that he had killed three people that night. Since then Courtney's girlfriend and an elderly woman have both turned up dead. Police are calling Courtney a suspect in his girlfriend's death but still haven't ruled whether the elderly woman's death was a homicide.

Fears were mounting that Gerald Hockensmith might be dead, too, after he was reported missing on Wednesday. But Janesville Police Chief David Moore told reporters at a news conference Monday that surveillance footage from a northern Wisconsin bank showed Hockensmith alive and well just hours earlier.

Moore declined to say exactly where Hockensmith was found. He apparently left for northern Wisconsin on short notice and it's unclear how long he planned to stay there, the chief said.

"We were doing the math," Moore said. "We had an individual in this community who said he'd killed three people. It is with some relief that we know Mr. Hockensmith is still alive and with us."

Detectives still have plenty of work to do. Moore said Courtney's roommate has now changed his story, saying Courtney never said he killed three people in only one night and offered no time frame. Now they're piecing together his background over years, the chief said.

"We still take Mr. Courtney at his word that he's killed three people," Moore said.

Police arrested Courtney on May 4 after his roommate's girlfriend called 911 and said Courtney was "going crazy," tearing apart the kitchen and fighting with her boyfriend. Officers arrived to find the roommate, Michael Clark, stabbed in the shoulder and foot and the kitchen splattered with blood, according to a criminal complaint.

Courtney tried to flee but officers caught him after a short foot chase. They found a steak knife in Courtney's coat and a rock in his pants pocket, the complaint said. Clark initially told investigators that Courtney told him during the fight he had killed three people that day, according to the complaint.

Officers found Brittany Cross, Courtney's 21-year-old girlfriend, dead behind a former furniture store the next morning. She died of a blunt-force injury to the head. Moore said detectives still don't have a motive but consider Courtney the suspect.

On Friday, officers found 75-year-old Mary Coulthard's body in the Rock River. An autopsy revealed she had drowned. However, Moore said Monday that further results show she suffered an injury before she entered the water. He wouldn't elaborate on the wound or how it might have been inflicted, saying only that it was significantly different than Cross' injury.

Courtney faces multiple charges, including attempted homicide, in connection with the stabbing incident but hasn't been charged in Cross or Coulthard's deaths. His attorney, public defender Megan Reed, didn't immediately return an email message.

Investigation timeline now expands; read more in the Janesville Gazette's story HERE.